Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen (born
October 5,
1951) is an
American actress most famous for her roles in the films
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978),
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and
Starman (1984).
Early life
Allen was born in
Carrollton, in rural southern
Illinois, to Carroll Thompson Allen (an
FBI agent) and Patricia A. Howell. Allen spent her first 10 years traveling around the country with her parents and two sisters. At 17, after graduating from high school, she moved to
New York to study art and design. She later attended the
University of Maryland, College Park and spent time traveling through South and Central America. In
1974, Karen joined a theater group and three years later moved back to New York and studied at the
Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.
Film career
In 1978, Allen made her major film debut in
National Lampoon's Animal House and Hollywood took notice. Her next two appearances would be in
The Wanderers in
1979 and
A Small Circle of Friends in
1980, where she played one of three radical college students during the
1960s. The
United Artists-release of that film received only limited theatrical exposure, ultimately grossing under $1 million.
["50 Top-Grossing Films". (Week ending March 19, 1980). Variety, March 22, 1980] Her next big role came with
Raiders of the Lost Ark (
1981), where she played the feisty heroine Marion Ravenwood. Allen won a
Saturn Award for
Best Actress in a film for her role in the film.
Karen also debuted on
Broadway in 1982's "The Monday After the Miracle". After a few small films including
Until September (1984), directed by
Richard Marquand and other stage appearances, she made the successful science fiction film
Starman (1984). She often took breaks from movie roles to concentrate on
stage acting.
In
1990, she also portrayed crew member
Christa McAuliffe in the controversial movie
Challenger, based on the
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Private life
Allen married actor
Kale Browne (who, incidentally, portrayed Christa McAuliffe's husband, Steven, in
Challenger) in 1988 and had Nicholas, her first child in 1990. Since his birth, Karen Allen has done smaller film roles and TV films to concentrate on raising Nicholas. She has also had an ongoing interest in knitting and in 2003 started her own textile company, Karen Allen-Fiber Arts in Western
Massachusetts. She also teaches acting at
Simon's Rock College of Bard.
Footnotes
External links
*
Karen Allen Fiber Arts: The official website for actress Karen Allen*
Karen Allen: An ACME Page*
